Penne al Forno

Baked Pasta with Marinara and Bechamel

Posted By
Savita

You might have made or seen lots of baked (al Forno) pasta recipes but this one is very special recipe from my kitchen. My little secret is home made white sauce and no cheese topping. Creamy white sauce made with just flour, butter and milk makes this pasta so creamy and delicious.

I usually layer some cooked ground meat or chopped spinach for some extra layers of favor but today's recipe is simply - baked Pasta with Marinara and Bechamel.

Ingredients

3 tbsp
Unsalted Butter
(2 tbsp for bechamel and 1 tbsp for breadcrumb crisp topping (use more if you prefer))

2 Cup
Milk

3 tbsp
All-Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp
Salt and Black Pepper

1/4 tsp
Nutmeg
(grated)

2
Garlic
(Optional - cloves of garlic, fine chopped)

Directions

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1.
Make Bechamel - Heat milk in a pot and remove from heat. In an another heavy bottom sauce pan, cook flour with 2 tbsp butter till flour is cooked but not brown, add warm milk slowly and keep whisking so that flour does not form lumps in milk. Keep stirring until milk is thick and leaves a smooth, thin coating on spoon (about 20 minutes). Season with salt and pepper to taste and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. Yields about 1 & 1/4 Cup

2.
Cook Pasta - Start oven to preheat at 375 F. Bring a pot of water to boil, add salt and cook pasta 2 minutes less than time mentioned on the pasta package cooking directions (I cook it for 6 minutes).

3.
Start layering the pasta in a deep baking dish. Mix chopped basil, chopped garlic (if using) and oilve oil in the marinara. Start with a small scoop of marinara sauce at the bottom.

Additional Notes

I have used individual baking pan for this recipe, but you can use a 9'' pan to make pasta al Forno.

4.
Top it with layer of cooked pasta.

5.
Top it with white sauce (Bechamel), then repeat layers of marinara, penne pasta and bechamel two times or until all marinara and white sauce have been consumed.

6.
Top it with bread crumbs and melted 1 tbsp butter.

7.
Bake on oven middle rack for 20 minutes. Serve with a glass of Shardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon